Boardman-Ottaway Downtown Riverfront
Traverse City Downtown Development Authority
Traverse City, Michigan
2022
Credit:
Design Distill
Partners
The conceptual design for the Boardman-Ottaway Downtown Riverfront makes it a place for people to gather and interact, and a place for people to engage with public spaces, the surrounding businesses, and with the river itself. The final conceptual design proposes two new pedestrian bridges over the river, one which will create access to Clinch Park on the Traverse Bay waterfront, a more naturalized riverbank with enhanced amenities including steps, seating, lights, and public art, the conversion of part of the Front Street alley to a pedestrian plaza, and a park-like setting with trees and decorative lighting between various cafes and eating establishments. The new riverfront redesign is part of the Traverse City Downtown Development Authority’s (DDA) “unified plan” for the 1.6 miles of the lower Boardman-Ottaway River.
Existing conditions along the Boardman-Ottaway Downtown Riverwalk.
The process for designing the three preliminary concepts and then the final conceptual design was integrated with a thorough community engagement process. In June 2022, SMM and INFORM met with local business and property owners and also had a tour with them to learn more about the site from their perspective. The team held a public open house—open to the entire community—and presented boards with many ideas for design interventions throughout the site to get the public’s feedback. Three preliminary design concepts were then developed which were brought to Traverse City for another public open house where the public was asked to share their thoughts about the three conceptual designs and share what parts of the three designs they liked and anything more they would like to see. In November 2022, the design team presented the final conceptual design to the Traverse City DDA which was unanimously accepted.
